


you're the only place that feels like home

by MichaelKyan



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Bad Days, Comfort, Established Relationship, Long-Distance Relationship, Lovey-Dovey, M/M, Sad with a Happy Ending, Trans Character, because the world needs more trans characters am i right or am i right
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-25
Updated: 2015-03-25
Packaged: 2018-03-19 12:07:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3609525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MichaelKyan/pseuds/MichaelKyan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Michael Jones and Ryan Haywood are two transgender teenagers struggling on the day to day. Despite the broken windows and empty calories, they have each other so they can fight the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you're the only place that feels like home

**Author's Note:**

> Story title - I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me
> 
> This song is also where this story came from, it's italicized. It's kind of a songfic but not completely? 
> 
> Dedicated to who I can't stop thinking about

  
_they call kids like us vicious and carved out of stone_  
_but for what we've become, we just feel more alone_  
_always weigh what i've got against what i left_  
_so progress report: i am missing you to death_

\--- 

Michael Jones came home from school and went straight for the freezer.

Whatever he grabbed would be fine; it would be better than his day by a long shot. A pint of ice cream in hand and a cell phone in the other, his bed became his safe haven. After he tore off his chest binder and coughed thrice, the crying began. He could barely taste the sweet cream over the salty tears rolling down his face. Michael tried hard to control his sobs but they just bubbled out of his heart. He sniffed occasionally, reaching for his laptop to try and distract himself online. 

-

Ryan Haywood came home from school and reached for an apple. 

He bit into it with the fierce of a thousand lions and he threw his backpack against the door. He tore off his own chest binder and also whipped it against the wall in rage. If it was in his path, it was going to be thrown. The apple was the only thing keeping him remotely grounded to reality. By the time he reached the core, he chucked that as hard as he could, resulting in some shattered glass. He swore silently and rushed to find some tape to fix the window. His parents wouldn't notice for a while anyway so he could blame on it on the kids next door, per usual. He flopped onto his bed and opened his laptop, itching to talk. 

He went straight for Skype to see that his boyfriend, Michael, was on, too. After praising any type of higher being for him to be on, he opened the chat and punched each key as he typed.

"hey, you free to talk?"

Michael looked up when he heard the "ping!" of the notification. He looked up to see it was from Ryan and he smiled just a little bit. He typed back: "in a minute." Michael got up and found a damp towel to sooth his swollen face. One more sniffle and he hit the call button.

Ryan frowned when Michael's face popped up on the screen. "Babe..."

"I can't do this anymore!"

"What happened today?"

Michael ate another scoop of ice cream before he spoke. "Misgendering is so taxing. I don't know what to do anymore. I can't keep living like this, Rye."

"I know. It's hard for me too." Ryan tilted his screen towards his broken window, the glass crackled like lightning bolts.

"Oh, Rye," Michael pouted. "I wish I could help you with that."

"And I wish I could help your parents afford all the ice cream you eat," Ryan rattled off. Michael stuck up the middle finger while holding his spoon, something Ryan stopped to applaud. They sat in silence for a few minutes, letting the static fill with air. 

"I wish you were here," Michael whispered.

"I know, love," Ryan whispered back. "If only you weren't three hours away."

"I miss you so much," Michael rambled. "I miss resting with you and kissing you and letting you hold me and me sometimes holding you."

"God, I miss you too," Ryan closed his eyes, whisking himself away to the last time they were together. They had to keep their meetings short and brief if only to keep their parents a bit naive. Ryan would say he's visiting an old friend a few states north while Michael would excuse himself for the day and say he'd be at the library or the mall. It was the best they could do before they left high school and before they left their sour, pre-transition lives behind. Sure, they socially changed their names but it wouldn't help much in school where everyone knew their pasts. It was a battle against time but they were virtually holding hands every step of the way.

"Remember how we met?" Ryan asked. 

"How could I? You were the most annoying kid in the chat," Michael said, finishing off the pint of ice cream.

"I'm going to have to say it was _you_ being annoying."

"Oh, please, love. If it wasn't for you being annoying and for me calling you out, we wouldn't have talked for so long."

"I dunno. I thought you were pretty cute then."

"You thought that ol' photo was attractive? What the hell is wrong with your tastes, Haywood?"

"I could be asking the same question to you, Jones."

The two went back and forth, intermittently mentioning and trying to plan their next meetup. Ryan checked his wallet and the train schedules seeing as it was a Friday and train fares on Saturdays weren't that bad. He booked his seats online and regrettably told Michael he'd have to wait a few more weeks. Michael and Ryan pressed their hands to the screen and called it a night.

-

The next morning, Michael's phone rang ever so softly. He rolled over in bed and answered with a slurry "hello"?

"Hey, let me in," Ryan demanded. 

"What are you talking about?"

"Your door. Let me in it."

Michael checked the time - 7:21 in the morning - and looked outside his window. Sure enough, a Ryan was now waving .

It was just before Michael's parents would be awake, so he tiptoed past their bedroom. Michael opened the door to see Ryan standing in the pouring rain. 

"What the fuck?" Michael mouthed, almost shutting the door in disbelief. Ryan held onto it just to be safe. 

"I mean, you sounded like you really needed me," Ryan explained. "Can I come in? It's cold."

"My parents are asleep?!"

"Okay, so let's chill in the hallway for a minute?"

"Hold on,"

Michael went back inside and left a note for his parents saying he'd be out and about running errands and to text him if they needed him. He threw on a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie to avoid having to do much passing and went to see his boyfriend.

-

Michael faced Ryan in the hallway. "Why?"

Ryan took off his drenched jacket settled down on the floor of the smoke stained hallway. "I told you, silly. You were alone and I didn't like that. You sounded like you were at rock bottom and were too nervous to ask for help, other than begging me to be here."

Michael looked at the floor and played with his shirt. "How'd you get here?" 

"Lots of trains, you know that. It was actually very pretty until I had to get off them. You have lots of trees up here, you know."

Michael giggled and sat down next to him. They nestled together, Michael leaning his head on the other's shoulder. He took in the sweet, almost pine like smell of Ryan's shirt and wished it to be his only smell. 

"Thank you," Michael said, looking into Ryan's eyes.

"For?"

"Being here. I didn't realize how bad I'd gotten."

"I didn't either until I was able to see you again." Ryan pressed a soft kiss to Michael's cheek, to which Michael returned the favor.

"My parents are going to freak out if they find out you're here." He sighed.

"Then let's not be here? Let's go outside."

"It's raining, you fucking idiot."

"You're wearing a hoodie, fucker. Let's get a bite to eat."

Michael and Ryan went to a local cafe and they spent some time doing some dirty work - prioritizing. Michael helped Ryan come up with anger management strategies to spare another window. Ryan made a list of all the things Michael could do instead of stress eat. While snacking on some pastries, they both came up with serious lists for emergencies and silly lists for smiles. On their more serious lists, deep breathing and simple yoga made the cut. They, even though they weren't the biggest fans, put down running and other exercises down as well. They each put their favorite origami patterns and favorite cute computer games down, too. Their silly lists, on the contrary, were nothing but nonsense but it was their nonsense so it was sense. 

Ryan included on his "get frosting on your nose" and when Michael looked up to question it, just that happened. He laughed and both forgot what it meant to be upset. Ryan did too, just from seeing Michael's face light up underneath the white icing. Nothing mattered except for them. The world could've stopped spinning but they were together so what did it matter. 

"I can't believe how much I love you."

-

Michael came home from school, put his backpack down, and found some origami paper. 

Ryan came home from school and went for a run.

**Author's Note:**

> I've been stressed so...here
> 
> My twitter - @michael_kyan  
> My tumblr - maniacmessiah


End file.
